INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Mobile storage needs increase by the day and although for the majority of consumers out there portable hard drives offer the best balance between performance and capacity along with the best price and performance ratio there are always those who place performance above all else. For those consumers and professionals manufacturers brought the much faster SSDs (solid state drives) to the mobile market which especially today can achieve performance results several times higher than portable hard drives. With portable SSDs gaining popularity among casual consumers and professionals alike it was just a matter of time before hardware encrypted drive manufacturers also released SSD based models into the market and since our good friends over at iStorage also have one such line today with us we have their diskAshur PRO2 512GB PIN authenticated Portable SSD.

   iStorage is the trusted global leader of award winning PIN authenticated, hardware encrypted data storage devices. Delivering the most innovative products to securely store and protect data to military specified encryption levels; safeguarding valuable business information whilst ensuring compliance to regulations and directives.

   Just like all the previous products we've reviewed by iStorage the diskAshur PRO2 is also a tamper-proof (protected against brute attacks, external tamper, bypass laser attacks and fault injections) PIN authenticated ((platform/device independent / 7-15 digit codes) USB 3.1 portable drive (currently available in 500GB/1TB/2TB/3TB/4TB/5TB for the HDD line and 128/256/512/1TB/2TB/4TB for the SSD line) that features real-time military grade FIPS PUB 197 validated AES-XTS 256-bit hardware encryption (FIPS 140-2 Level 2-3/NCSC CPA/NLNCSA BSPA/NATO Restricted Certified). Safety/security measures however once again expand into other areas of the drive so leaving out the usual epoxy covered keypad (makes it virtually impossible for people to tell which have been used) and the super tough epoxy resin layer placed over its interior components (virtually impossible to remove without causing severe damage) the enclosure of the diskAshur PRO2 is also IP56 certified (dust and water resistant). For all of you who may be wondering as to what SSD models iStorage is using for their diskAshur PRO2 line our sample arrived with the SU800 model by ADATA (Silicon Motion SM2258 NAND controller with 3D TLC NAND).

 

 

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the front of the box we see a large product picture placed next to the main product features and a sticker with the capacity and type of the included drive.

 

 

A drawing of compatible devices and several drawings showcasing the bundle contents are placed on the right side.

 

 

The serial number, barcode and product capacity are all printed on a sticker located on the left side.

 

 

Turning the box around we see the complete product features and specifications list printed in 5 languages.

 

 

Wrapped inside bubble wrap and placed in a formed piece of cardboard the drive is secure during transport.

 

 

Along with the diskAshur PRO2 Portable SSD iStorage also packs a carrying/storage case, ESET DriveSecurity and NERO BackItUp license papers, product disclaimer paper and a quick start guide.

 

 

 

 

THE DISKASHUR PRO2 512GB PORTABLE SSD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bundled carrying/storage case may just have enough room for the drive but it's a great addition to the bundle.

 

 

Measuring 124mm in length, 84mm in width and 20mm in height the 180g heavy diskAshur PRO2 512GB Portable SSD is quite compact (still because of the top keypad and all the interior components of the drive size is not its strong selling point).

 

 

To have a better idea about its size we placed the diskAshur PRO2 Portable SSD right next to the HyperX EXO and the Samsung T3 and T1 models.

 

 

At the top of the enclosure we find the epoxy coated keypad and 3 LEDs (locked/unlocked/activity).

 

 

An integrated USB cable is stored on the right side of the enclosure (unfortunately the cable is short so you may need an USB extension cable).

 

 

4 small rubber feet are placed at the bottom of the drive.

 

 

Here we see a picture of the SU800 SSD by ADATA used in this version of the diskAshur PRO2.

 

 

 

 

TEST BED

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   Solid state drives are basically the same as USB flash drives and so we’re using almost the same testing methodology to successfully record achieved read & write performance numbers in our charts*. The benchmark suites used are HD Tach RW (Read Speeds / Long Bench 32mb Zone Testing), HD Tune Pro (Read speeds), Sisoftware Sandra Pro (Read / Write speeds), AIDA 64 Engineer Edition (Average Linear Read / Random Read speeds), Crystal Disk Mark x64 (100MB-1000MB Read / Write speeds) and finally ATTO (Max Read / Max Write speeds). Every test is repeated a total of 6 times after which the average performance numbers are recorded into our charts (0 = we were unable to complete that test).

   All tests are performed with our main rig running Microsoft Windows 10 Pro installation on a HyperX Predator 480GB PCIe SSD with all updates installed up to the 19th of December 2018. As always for comparison purposes in the charts you will also find many other flash drivers which have been tested using the same exact test bench as the one in this review (we really can't keep every flash drive we get forever and also even if we could test them all again and again would simply not be possible).

* Since November 2018 we started new charts only for portable solid state drives.

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK X64

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Hardware encrypted drives like the diskAshur PRO2 are all about data security/safety and so performance is certainly not as important so even though the 512GB variant we reviewed today packs a rather fast SSD model (ADATA SU800) the end results were far from impressive. That being said read and write performance did match that of the Bolt B75 model by Silicon Power so the diskAshur PRO2 512GB is far from slow and certainly much faster than its HDD based brothers. As for the security/safety features of the drive all work as advertised (only feature we didn’t test was the IP56 certification) and for all of you who may be wondering the enclosure of the diskAshur PRO2 seems to be a step higher in terms of quality compared to the “regular” diskAshur 2 line.

   PIN authenticated storage media devices are aimed towards a very specific segment of the market and just like enterprise-grade products that means they don’t come cheap. That being said with a current price tag set at USD483.50 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and 490Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk) the diskAshur PRO2 512GB PIN Authenticated Portable SSD may seem far from affordable but that really shouldn’t matter much for buyers who need the extra protection offered by such a drive. On top of the extra security add performance (may not be stellar but still far better compared to HDD models) and a 3 year warranty and the diskAshur PRO2 512GB PIN authenticated Portable SSD is definitely worth our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality (IP56 Certified Enclosure)
- PIN Authenticated
- Security Measures (AES-XTS 256-bit Hardware Encryption/EDGE Chip/Interior Epoxy Layer)
- Good Performance (For A Portable SSD)
- Hardwired USB Cable
- Available In 128GB/256GB/512GB/1TB/2TB/4TB Capacities
- HDD & SSD Models
- Epoxy Coated Keypad (Wear Resistant)
- DriveSecurity & NERO BackItUp Software License
- Bundled Carrying/Storage Case

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- USB Cable Length